any significant reduction in the fertility of a soil, whether in the course of its natural development or by direct or indirect human action

det.

(lat. determinavit) determined by

detriticolous

living in detritus

detritophilous

living in decaying plant matter

diapause

a period of hormonally controlled quiescence, esp. in immature insects, characterized by cessation of growth and reduction of metabolic activity, often occurring seasonally or when environmental conditions are unfavorable

dimorphism

a difference in size, form, or color, between individuals of the same species

a "thief parasite," an organism that gets food by stealing it from another organism that it lives in close association with, possibly in the way of killing the brood to reach their broodsubstrate

K-strategist

organism that uses a survival and reproductive 'strategy' characterised by low fecundity, low mortality, longer life and with populations approaching the carrying capacity of the environment, controlled by density-dependent factors

a population perceived to exist as a series of subpopulations, linked by migration between them. However, the rate of migration is limited, such that the dynamics of the metapopulation should be seen as the sum of the dynamics of the individual subpopulations.